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Indigenous Rights, Justice, and Corporate Accountability in the Peruvian Amazon
The Achuar and Talisman Energy

Amazon Watch

By Amazon Watch

The Achuar indigenous people live in the Corrientes, Pastaza, and Morona river basins in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Achuar lands sit atop oil fields, although relatively marginal in terms of the quality and accessibility of the reserves. However, successive oil companies – first U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and now Argentina's Pluspetrol – have been pumping oil in the Corrientes river basin since the early 1970s. The companies polluted for decades, and have caused severe environmental damage and negative health impacts for the local communities. The Achuar are determined not to let this tragic history repeat itself in the still pristine rainforest areas of their territory. However, their lands and livelihoods are now under threat from Talisman Energy, which has the right to drill for oil in two blocks covering roughly 4 million acres (1.7 million hectares) of roadless tropical rainforest along the Morona and Pastaza rivers in the heart of Achuar territory. The Achuar people have consistently opposed any new oil operation in their territory, and they are urging Talisman to respect their rights and withdraw from their ancestral territory.

For time immemorial, the Achuar indigenous people have lived in the Amazon rainforest of northern Peru in harmony with their natural environment. Their homeland contains some of the highest biodiversity on Earth. Well into the twentieth century, the Achuar practiced their traditional way of life, relatively isolated from the rest of Peruvian society. Still today, over 11,000 Achuar live in the Peruvian Amazon along the Corrientes, Pastaza, and Morona rivers. To reach this remote region from the capital city of Lima can take up to a week by bus and canoe, and travel on foot between villages often takes days.

Achuar lands also sit atop oil fields, although relatively marginal in terms of the quality and accessibility of the reserves. However, successive oil companies – first US-based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and now Argentina’s Pluspetrol – have been pumping oil in the concession known as Block 1AB since the early 1970’s. Until very recently, flagrant pollution has been the norm. Oxy’s legacy of harm continues to be felt: their reckless operations dumped approximately 9 billion barrels of “produced waters” – which contain highly toxic substances such as barAmazon ium, lead and arsenic – throughout 30 years of operations (averaging 850,000 barrels per day).

The companies polluted for decades, lowering their production costs and maximizing return for their shareholders. Local people, however, have paid the costs. Adults and local children have tested positive for dangerously high blood-lead levels; and local residents cite countless tales of unexplained diseases, tumors, skin ailments and miscarriages from oil exposure. Fish and local game are not fit for consumption and fraught with contamination, and the soil is also no longer fit to produce agricultural crops on which the Achuar depend for subsistence.

In response, the Achuar have mobilized through peaceful means, forcing Pluspetrol to end the practice of dumping “produced waters,” and have filed a class action lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum in U.S. Yet the Achuar face increasing threats from Big Oil. Calgary-based Talisman Energy, alongside other Canadian oil companies, has entered this conflictive scenario. Arriving in Peru in 2004, Talisman has steadily expanded its operations. As of 2010, they hold 100% interest in Block 101 and Block 64 (recently acquired from Occidental Petroleum). These two blocks cover roughly 4 million acres (1.7 million hectares) of pristine tropical rainforest and overlap the Morona and Pastaza river basins. - Pitiur Unti Saant

“We have seen with our own eyes how the company has worked here the last 10 years. Now the rivers are polluted, the land polluted, the air polluted, the forest too.”

— Pitiur Unti Saant, leader and elder from Unkum community

Blocks 101 and 64 also overlap the Pastaza Alluvial Fan: an enormous wetlands area, classified as a site of international importance under the RAMSAR Convention. Dozens of species of animals listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species are found in these wetlands, along with 17 species on the International Union of Concerned Scientists’ “Red List of Threatened Species”. The cumulative impact of oil activities in the coming years would likely contribute to extinction of some of these species and a loss of precious biodiversity.

Given the Achuar’s experience with Oxy, the majority of communities within Block 64 have adopted a steadfast opposition to any new oil activities on their lands. In March of 2010, at an official Assembly, elders and leaders of the Achuar released a public statement demanding that Talisman leave.

“We demand that the Peruvian government immediately annuls the contracts for blocks 64 and 101 and that Talisman immediately withdraws from our territory.”

— Achuar public statement, March 28th 2010

Amazon Watch works to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published in Amazon Watch, ON May 03 2010 . Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers .

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Petroleumworld News 06/13/10

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